ENGINEERING STUDY ON FIP RECOMMENDS CANAL LINING
A Helena engineering firm has recommended several ways of increasing water delivery of the Flathead Irrigation Project (FIP). The 23-page engineering evaluation, which was bankrolled by the BIA does not, however, suggest any way FIP could improve service to the tribe or tribal members.
The Morrison and Maierle report, which came out of a
one-year study of the 50-year old reservation irrigation system, examined several proposed ways of increasing water delivery. Among the proposals were: lining the main canals with concrete or plastic..installing sprinkler mains...installing stream flow gauges... pumping water from the Flathead River...drilling irrigation wells, and raising storage re-
servoirs.
The report analyses each of these proposals on a cost-benefit scale and rejects as too expensive all but the first three engineering projects. According to the firm's figures, the canal lining project would produce as much as eight times much benefit as costs. The report claims that 1,300 miles of ancient leaky canals are cur-
rently losing about 50% of the water caotured by the project. By lining four principal canals in the Mission Mountain district, some 90.700 acre feet of water could be saved, according to the report. In all, nine canal systems were analysed with a claimed savings of some 115,700 acre feet of water. The total estimated cost of
Projects (Page 10)
NEW
ALCOHOLISM COMPLEX
Ronan: The reservation alcoholism program will be moving under a new roof perhaps as soon as October.
The roof, a one story office, clinic and out-patient facility, will be located in Ronan on Highway 93 just north of the Dairy Queen. It is hoped that construction will begin shortly after building bids have been opened on June 15.
According to Alcoholism Director, Harold "Sarge" Campbell, the new complex will bring together all facets of the reservation's program to cope with problem drinking. Plans call for an outpatient de-tox center in one wing of the new building. This facility will provide care for patients needing medical services. The building will also house the program's Half-way House in another wing. The Half-way House pro-
COMPLEX(Page 2)
HOT SPRINGS TIMBER SALE TRIPLES APPRAISAL
Ronan: Indian logger, Kendall Dupuis, Poison topped nine other bidders May 16, for 24.5-million board feet of tribal timber in the Hot Springs logging unit.
Dupuis offered a total of $1,521,196.96 for the largest reservation logging sale of the year. It was Dupuis' second successful bid in the past three months. April 1, he landed the 2-million board feet Fringe unit in Indian preference bidding. His high bid for the Hot Springs unit came in open bidding against large Missoula and local logging firms.
Dupuis' bid was roughly three times the BIA Forestry appraisal for the unit. The Hot Springs timber was estimated in December to be worth $424,305.60. Dupuis out-bid the bureau's pine appraisal with an offer of $90.19 com-
pared to an estimated value of $46.15. His bid on fir and
other species was $53.19 compared to the bureau's appraisal of $9.15.
Dupuis' bid must still be approved by the council. If approved, it will carry a new 60 per-cent of bid price minimum stumpage specification. This means that tribal revenue from the sale can not go below 60 per-cent of Dupuis' bid, or $54.11 for pine. According to the new contract provision, if the market does fall below 60 per-cent, logging operations stop and the logger is exempted from penalties
The Pack River Mill in Poison was the second highest bidder for the Hot Springs unit with an offer of $1,446,938.26. The Intermountain company of Missoula was third with a total offer of $1,434,411.00.
FLATHEAD
MUSEUM
OPENS
St.Ignatius: One thing you can say about St.Ignatius
Indian^craft dealer Doug Allard^.He never does anything in a small way. Allard, who ram-rodded the tribe's new constitution draft two years ago...and owns the largest craft shop in the area... opened his Flathead Indian Museum earlier this month with a spectacular three day celebration.
And the new museum was worth all the fanfare. It contains thousands of North A-merican Indian exhibits from Athabascan parkas to Zuni silver craft. It is one of the ten largest privately owned Indian exhibits in the United States and is the realization of a decade of collecting and saving by Allard and his wife Carol.
The festivities began with an afternoon pow-wow and MUSEUM (Cont. on page 15)